Horse Senseless
by PineappleGRIMES
Summary: Gibbs, DiNozzo, Kate, Ziva, and McGee investigate a death of a U.S. Marine on the racetrack. Will they get the photo finish? New NCIS, coming at you, next!


"Horse Sense-less"

It's another typical day in the D.C. Metro district area. It's partly cloudy, about 77 degrees with no wind and we cut to Laurel Park track where it is just another race day. The most popular horse in the United States is at the track today, the legendary Zenyatta. As the next race begins, the bell goes off and all the horses take off like crazy except for one horse stuck in the gates. When that gate opens, it takes off with no rider and the folks watching notice a dead body in the gate. Of course, you know, security has to evacuate the area.

Now as Tony comes off the elevator, he glances over to Kate, McGee and Ziva after last week's events. "Kate, I could've sworn you died on that rooftop from Ari's bullet. How did you—never mind. I'm just glad you're okay," Tony said with a slight look on his face. "Maybe that's the reason why I faked my death, Tony. I just had to convince Ari I was dead. That's why I went underground until I heard about Ari's death, which I'm sorry you had to do Ziva. I also heard followed agency traffic telling me that Abby had just been abducted so I figure I'd do something to save her," said Kate.

"Special Agent Todd, it's no problem. I had to put him down. He had his gun raised to Gibbs, and I had to shoot him in the head. It was hard considering that he was my half-brother," said Ziva. While Kate and Ziva were talking, Tony manages to look inside Kate's purse when Kate yells "DiNozzo! Didn't I warn you before about looking through my purse 9 years ago?" Maybe Tony forgot about that day when Lieutenant Cheney and his team came in looking for the guy who murdered Petty Officer Dion Lambert?

"Tony, you still haven't learned have you? After nine years, when are you going to grow up?" said Kate and Ziva. Gibbs walks into the squad room and says "Yeah DiNozzo, when are you going to grow up? Let's go, we got a dead Sergeant at the Laurel Park horse track, grab your gear. Kate, call Ducky, Ziver, gas the truck, DiNozzo, McGee—come on."

"It's good to see Kate again, huh Tony?" said McGee with a smile on his face. As the team heads down to the truck and cars, DiNozzo has one of his flashbacks to his youth. "Ah, Laurel Park, I used to come here as a kid. We used to bet on the horses all the time my father and me." Of course Kate, Ziva, and McGee are already reporting to Gibbs, and then Gibbs realizes Tony is slacking off. "Hey, Tony, you want to bet on how long you're going to have this job? Come on, we got work to do! Shoot and sketch, Kate, Ziva, interview witnesses, McGee, bag and tag."

Ducky and Palmer arrive on scene just a few moments later. "Mr. Palmer, did you ever go to the racetracks in your youth growing up?" asked Ducky. "I can't say to be honest Doctor, but I did watch the horse races on television though. I did see the movie, Hidalgo though," replied Jimmy Palmer.

"Hidalgo, 2004 movie directed by Jim Johnston, starring Viggo Mortensen as the legendary distance rider, Frank Hopkins who competes in a deadly cross-country race 3,000 miles in the desert," said DiNozzo. "Tony, why am I not surprised you know that?" asked Kate. "What does this have to do with the case?" asked Ziva as well. "Well, it is a horse track and horse tracks are used by horses you two, and—hmm, military I.D." said Tony. "Sergeant Mike Patterson, United States Marine Corps," said Tony.

"Hey Duck, got a T.O.D. on Sgt. Patterson?" asked Gibbs. "Jethro, it seems that our Sgt. here expired no less the four hours ago. Judging by the lips, I'd say hyperhidrosis around the lips, swelling, and foam at the mouth. I don't see any signs of foul play here. Although I won't know for certain until we get him back to autopsy," said Ducky. "I'll get the gurney, Doctor," says Palmer.

As Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, McGee, and Kate looked around the area for more clues, Kate finds something near the starting gate. "Gibbs, got something!" shouted Kate. As Gibbs runs over to find Kate by the gates Tony, Ziva and McGee are sketching and shooting pictures near the gate. "Ziva, head over to the horse stables and find out if there's any evidence in there," said Tony. When Ziva heads off to the horse stables, Tony and Kate talk to each other to find out how Kate survived the gunshot to the head.

"Kate, there's no way in hell you could've survived that, the bullet went clean through your skull. Gibbs and I saw right then and there," said Tony. "Tony, after you guys left my funeral; I went underground and changed my identity. After I had heard that Abby was captured over the agency wire, I grabbed my SIG and went to the hospital in the area. I showed up five minutes ahead of Gibbs. So basically, I was a shadow figure. When I heard Gibbs yelling, freeze, I turned around and surprised her," replied Kate.

After that conversation, Tony walks over to Kate and hugs her and says "I'm glad that you're okay, let us make sure that you don't get killed ever again." As Tony and Kate resume looking around the gates where the body was, Kate tells Tony that "he's heading over to the dead Sergeant's locker to find trace evidence."

Meanwhile, McGee finds a crucial piece of evidence labeled "arsenic" and "rat poison." He drops the evidence and calls Gibbs and Ducky over to him. "Boss, I've got a couple pieces of evidence you may want to see!" shouted McGee. Gibbs and Ducky come over to Tim and McGee asks Ducky "Hey Ducky, I think this may be your cause of death, arsenic and rat poison. It's possible the Sergeant may have had this put into something such as a drink, his food, etc," said McGee.

"That's good work Tim. Bag and tag it, then get it back to Abby," said Gibbs. McGee tags and bags the evidence then hops in the charger to head back to NCIS to get Abby the evidence. Meanwhile, Ziva is in the horse stables and she finds a water bottle on the ground, she grabs the DNA swab from her bag and swabs for analysis. Moments later she hears footsteps and someone is coming toward the stable she's in. Ziva draws her weapon and points her weapon at the Sergeant's horse trainer.

"Whoa! Don't shoot!" said the horse trainer. "NCIS, who are you?" asked Ziva. "I'm Sergeant Patterson's horse trainer, Michelle Jackson." After she identifies herself, Ziva asks Michelle, "Do you know what happened to Sergeant Patterson, Ms. Jackson?" A moment of silence, "No, I had heard he was poisoned from what the other folks said. Can you find the person who did this to him and bring them to justice?" asked Michelle.

Ziva told her "Yes, we will find the person who did this to him." So as Michelle walks off to the back. Ziva makes a startling discovery, a threatening note from an anonymous person that says "you either win all your races or you and your family will die." She grabs the note and tags it, then races off back to the NCIS truck to find Gibbs.

Kate is now in the dead Sergeant's locker room checking his personal belongings, looking for anything out of the ordinary. She finds some pills, and a cell phone along with keys. The cell phone was ringing and it had a text message that said "Win all the races or your family dies." The message had no number on it.

Ziva and Kate run back to Gibbs telling him that Sergeant Mike Patterson's family may be in danger after they both found threatening notes and text messages, respectively. "Tony! Come on!" Gibbs was just finishing his interview with Sgt. Patterson's horse training team. After that the team loads up and heads back to NCIS to analyze the evidence.

As the team unloads the truck and returns to the squad room, Gibbs heads to Abby's lab to meet McGee and Abby, with Abby on the receiving end of a Caf-Pow. "What do you got for me Abs?" said Gibbs. "Well Gibbs, what we have here is a high dose of arsenic along with rat poison. Your Sergeant was literally poisoned," said Abby. "What else do you got?" said Gibbs. "Well the text message and written message look like they were both by the same person, I can tell just by the anger in his messages," replied Abby.

Gibbs tells Abby thanks and kisses her on the cheek then walks off to the squad room, there he finds Director Shepard along with Tony, Kate, and Ziva. "Special Agent Gibbs, we have intercepted who may be behind Sergeant Patterson's death. It seems that Patterson may have gotten involved with Al-Qaeda terrorists. One of the names we picked up was a Walid Al-Zahiri," said Director Shepard. When the name popped up, Gibbs looked over to the N.C.I.S. Most Wanted board and finds out he's on the Most Wanted board.

"Tony, Kate, Ziva, what do you have on Sergeant Patterson's SRB?" asked Gibbs. "Boss, Sergeant Patterson did two tours in Iraq as squad leader of a small delta team. Good remarks from his squad and great leader," said Tony. "Gibbs, credit card statements, seems like $15,000 dollars was recently deposited from an offshore account in the Cayman Islands, it was red flagged," said Ziva. "Hey Gibbs, according to the phone records, the threatening text message came off a burn phone," said Kate. "So basically, we got nothing, right?" said Gibbs.

Gibbs phone rings, "Gibbs comeback down to my lab! McGee and I found something on the tape you may want to see!" said Abby excitedly. As Gibbs returns to the lab, McGee and Abby find a tape of the horse trainer poisoning Sgt. Patterson's water bottle with the arsenic. Then moments later, the terrorist appears on the tape apparently kissing her and walking off. "That's it! McGee, Abby, Kate, and Ziva, report to the squad room, NOW!"

As the entire team assembles to the squad room, "Guys, the Sergeant has a race in three hours, we have to go undercover. Tony, you're on the horse. Kate, you'll be with Tony as a horse trainer. Ziva, you and McGee are with me. Remember, we need Al-Zahiri alive," said Gibbs. "Jethro, before you go, your victim had a high dose of the arsenic in his system, chances are it was poured in his water before the race," said Ducky. "Thanks Duck," replied Gibbs.

Kate and Tony head back to the racetrack undercover as a jockey and horse trainer. "Kate, remind me never to ride horses after today, got it?" said Tony. "Oh Tony, it's not my fault that you went to race tracks as a kid," said Kate. As Kate pulls the horse with Tony on it, they come up to the gates. "Tony, you better watch out for Zahiri and the horse trainer, Michelle Jackson," as Kate told Tony.

The gun goes off, and Tony takes off on the track…and Tony takes off in 5th place. As he rounds the first corner, he drops back to 8th place, when the straight away comes up, DiNozzo, charges up to 2nd place and coming around the third corner, Tony spots Zahiri. "Kate! Zahiri is on turn 3! Go get him!" said Tony in the earpiece. As Tony makes the final charge down the home stretch he's closing in on a victory, Tony's making his way up the pack, and then both horses cross the finish line.

The announcer then says "The winner of the race is…Probie!" Tony then celebrates his victory at the winner's circle! As Kate goes down to turn three: "FREEZE! NCIS! Get on the ground and put your hands behind your head!" Kate takes Zahiri into custody and asks him "Where is Sergeant Patterson's family? HUH?" Zahiri replies "Okay, okay! They're in a warehouse on the docks. You'll find the trainer there as well." "Walid Al-Zahiri, you're under arrest for the murder of Sergeant Mike Patterson," as Kate told him. After Kate reads Zahiri's rights, Kate hands him over to D.C. Metro and tells the officer to take him to NCIS.

Meanwhile, Gibbs, Ziva, and McGee get the call that they're at the docks and are moving into position. "Ziva, left flank, McGee take the roof, I'll go in the front door. Good luck," said Gibbs. McGee heads to the roof and there's no sentries on the roof, Ziva finds a side door and enters, she spots at least four sentries, Gibbs enters through the front and takes cover behind some crates. He spots three sentries. "Tim, Ziva, we got what looks like seven sentries here. On my mark, get ready to move. 3, 2, 1, GO!" said Gibbs. "NCIS! Drop your weapons!" shouted Gibbs, Ziva, and McGee. A shootout ensues, Gibbs takes down two bad guys, Ziva takes down three more, and McGee locates the family in an office and proceeds to provide cover to Sergeant Patterson's family. "Ziva, Boss, I'm pinned down by two enemy sentries on the second floor, I'm low on ammo, 18 rounds left," said McGee. Ziva races to the upstairs office on the second floor and takes down both sentries. "Thanks Ziva. That was almost another repeat of the Ferris incident again," said McGee. Michelle Jackson appears behind McGee and Ziva shouts "MCGEE!" Gibbs looks up to the second floor and spots Jackson with a gun. Gibbs takes her down wounded. Ziva moves in to take Jackson into custody. "Michelle Jackson, you're under arrest for accessory to murder and attempted murder of a federal agent," said Ziva.

Gibbs gets a phone call, its Tony and Kate reporting in and Tony tells Gibbs "Hey boss, I just won my first horse race. Come down to the track and meet my horse, his name is Probie." "Tony, that's good work," said Gibbs. The horse whinnies and as Tony falls off, Kate starts laughing at him. Ziva, McGee, and Gibbs come down to the racetrack to take a picture with Tony, Kate, McGee, and Ziva along with their horse, Probie. After that, the four return to NCIS to celebrate a good accomplishment.

"Kate, Ziva, McGee, you guys want to go to the bar? Drinks on me, tonight," suggested Tony. Kate was first to answer Tony, "Sure, Tony." Ziva then said, "Alright, I could use a drink to end the day." McGee answered, "Want to get me a sake bomb? I want to try one of those." Tony then has the smile on his face for a job well done today.

END


End file.
